By BILL VIRGIN, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, November 10, 2008

Formal notices won't be going out until Dec. 1, but some employees of the former Washington Mutual banking operations already are being told informally they'll be among those laid off by the bank's new owner, JPMorgan Chase.

Employees in such groups and departments as human resources, legal, risk management, fraud management and compliance have been advised by supervisors that they'll be getting layoff warning notices, and some have even been told not to show up for work between now and Dec. 1.

A spokeswoman for WaMu confirmed that some employees have been told that they'll be laid off; whether they'll continue to work until the official notification depends on specific departments and job functions, she said.

JPMorgan Chase isn't saying how many have been told informally or how many will be laid off.

Federal regulators took control of Washington Mutual's banking operations Sept. 25 and sold them to JPMorgan Chase the same day. In meetings with employees the following week, JPMorgan Chase officials said WaMu employees will wind up in one of three groups: those to be laid off, those who will stay for an extended transition period and those who will have permanent positions with the new company.

JPMorgan Chase plans to issue 60-day Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices Dec. 1, with employees officially losing their jobs at the end of January. They'd also receive severance calculated on length of time with the company.

Washington Mutual had 43,000 employees nationally and 2,200 retail branches. But the brunt of the cuts is expected to fall in Seattle, where many of it administrative, operations and support personnel work in positions that duplicate jobs JPMorgan Chase already has. WaMu's Seattle-area employment was more than 4,300.

Customers, meanwhile, won't be seeing signs of the change to the Chase name on branches and checking accounts until sometime next year.